Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports for February 2022 recorded US$ 1,005.2 million in February showing a 5.62% increase when compared to February 2021.
Export earnings from tea which made up 12% of merchandise exports, increased by 9.14% y-o-y to US$ 204.13 million in February 2023 compared to February 2022.
Export earnings from the Electrical and Electronics Components increased by 13.72% y-o-y to US$ 43.01 million in February 2023 with strong performance in exports of Other Electrical and Electronic Products (22.12%).
Overall exports, however, in contrast to 2022 shows an 8.06 % drop as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs.
Export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils increased by 27.0% to US$ 34.48 million in the month of February 2023 compared to month of February 2022 with strong performance in Cinnamon (20.16%) and Cloves (412.82 %).
However, export earnings from Apparel and Textile have decreased by 2.32 % y-o-y to $ 483.35 million in February 2023 compared to February 2022. Although earnings from exports of Apparel decreased by 14.75%, earnings from export of Textiles increased by 146.67% in February 2023 compared to February 2022. Also, export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have decreased by 17.81 % y-o-y to US$ 76.58 million in February 2022.
Export earnings from Seafood decreased by 5.57% to US$ 19.99 million in February 2023 compared to February 2022. However, export earnings from Ornamental fish increased by 37.93% to US$ 2.0 million in February 2023 compared to February 2022.
Meanwhile, earnings from export of Electrical and Electronic Components (EEC) increased by 10.19 % to US$ 81.29 million in the period of January to February 2023 compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Earnings from export of Switches, Boards and Panels and Other Electrical and Electronic Products increased by 37.31%, and 19.03 % respectively during the period of January to February 2023 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.
Out of the top 15 export markets, Italy, Canada, UAE and Bangladesh recorded positive performance in February 2023.During the period of January to February 2023, only UAE has recorded a positive performance compared to the corresponding period of previous year.
Exports to the United States of America, Sri Lanka’s single largest export destination, decreased by 20.94 % to US$ 231.06 million in February 2023 compared to February 2022. Exports to the United States of America decreased by 17.31 % to US$ 485.83 million in the period of January to February 2023.
During February 2023, exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 6.5 % of total merchandise exports decreased by 52.01 % to US$ 128.08 million.
However, exports to Pakistan increased due to the higher exports of Other Textile Articles in February 2023.
Although exports to Pakistan increased by 303.08 % y-o-y to US$ 62.88 million, exports to India decreased by 6.21% to US$ 139.72 million during the period of January to February 2023.
Exports to the European Union (EU) which comprised 21% of Sri Lanka’s exports during the month of February 2023 decreased by 14.48% y-o-y to US$ 417.71 million. In addition, exports to the European Union (EU) decreased by 17.31% y-o-y to US$ 485.83 million during the period of January to February 2023 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.